> This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
> But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
> Twitter::User Object.

> Some users will have all the attributes present,
> but some others will always be missing ...
> @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
> @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background, @favourites_count,
> @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
> @profile_link_color

> Is there a reason why this is?

> On Dec 10, 2008, at 2:47 AM, trustfundbaby <ikecof...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
> > But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
> > Twitter::User Object.

> > Some users will have all the attributes present,
> > but some others will always be missing ...
> > @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
> > @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background, @favourites_count,
> > @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
> > @profile_link_color

> > Is there a reason why this is?

> But here's the thing.
> Its the same call ....
> Why does it return different data for some users than others?

> On Dec 10, 2:23 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Certain API calls return more information than others. The user class
>> handles all the possible data but you are correct in that all data is
>> not returned with each call.

>> On Dec 10, 2008, at 2:47 AM, trustfundbaby <ikecof...@gmail.com>  
>> wrote:

>>> This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
>>> But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
>>> Twitter::User Object.

>>> Some users will have all the attributes present,
>>> but some others will always be missing ...
>>> @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
>>> @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background,  
>>> @favourites_count,
>>> @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
>>> @profile_link_color

>>> Is there a reason why this is?

> On Dec 10, 2008, at 11:02 PM, trustfundbaby wrote:

> > But here's the thing.
> > Its the same call ....
> > Why does it return different data for some users than others?

> > On Dec 10, 2:23 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Certain API calls return more information than others. The user class
> >> handles all the possible data but you are correct in that all data is
> >> not returned with each call.

> >> On Dec 10, 2008, at 2:47 AM, trustfundbaby <ikecof...@gmail.com>  
> >> wrote:

> >>> This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
> >>> But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
> >>> Twitter::User Object.

> >>> Some users will have all the attributes present,
> >>> but some others will always be missing ...
> >>> @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
> >>> @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background,  
> >>> @favourites_count,
> >>> @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
> >>> @profile_link_color

> >>> Is there a reason why this is?

> Just go to this url (replace 'user_name' with real twitter names to
> see what I mean)http://twitter.com/users/show/user_name.xml

> So I started looking into base.rb of the twitter gem and noticed that
> the user call
> \ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\twitter-0.3.7\lib\twitter

>     # returns all the profile information and the last status for a
> user
>     def user(id_or_screenname)
>       users(request("users/show/#{id_or_screenname}.xml", :auth =>
> true)).first
>     end

> references the private call users

>       # Converts an hpricot doc to an array of users
>       def users(doc)
>         (doc/:user).inject([]) { |users, user| users <<
> User.new_from_xml(user); users }
>       end

> So I followed it further and looked up user.rb
> and thats where I saw where it says exactly what I wrote in my
> original posting

> line 21
> # optional, not always present
> then it lists those attributes I listed above.

> My question is, why are those attributes not always present ...
> And I'm a little confused because in looking at that initial urlhttp://twitter.com/users/show/user_name.xml

> I have not come across an instance where those attributes were
> present.

> On Dec 10, 10:55 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Maybe some users are private? I don't know. You probably would have to  
> > ask on the twitter api mailing list.

> > On Dec 10, 2008, at 11:02 PM, trustfundbaby wrote:

> > > But here's the thing.
> > > Its the same call ....
> > > Why does it return different data for some users than others?

> > > On Dec 10, 2:23 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >> Certain API calls return more information than others. The user class
> > >> handles all the possible data but you are correct in that all data is
> > >> not returned with each call.

> > >> On Dec 10, 2008, at 2:47 AM, trustfundbaby <ikecof...@gmail.com>  
> > >> wrote:

> > >>> This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
> > >>> But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
> > >>> Twitter::User Object.

> > >>> Some users will have all the attributes present,
> > >>> but some others will always be missing ...
> > >>> @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
> > >>> @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background,  
> > >>> @favourites_count,
> > >>> @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
> > >>> @profile_link_color

> > >>> Is there a reason why this is?

> I took a look at the api call for users, and it returns a very
> standard xml format (excluding those attributes listed in my original
> message).

> Just go to this url (replace 'user_name' with real twitter names to
> see what I mean)
> http://twitter.com/users/show/user_name.xml

> So I started looking into base.rb of the twitter gem and noticed that
> the user call
> \ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\twitter-0.3.7\lib\twitter

>    # returns all the profile information and the last status for a
> user
>    def user(id_or_screenname)
>      users(request("users/show/#{id_or_screenname}.xml", :auth =>
> true)).first
>    end

> references the private call users

>      # Converts an hpricot doc to an array of users
>      def users(doc)
>        (doc/:user).inject([]) { |users, user| users <<
> User.new_from_xml(user); users }
>      end

> So I followed it further and looked up user.rb
> and thats where I saw where it says exactly what I wrote in my
> original posting

> line 21
> # optional, not always present
> then it lists those attributes I listed above.

> My question is, why are those attributes not always present ...
> And I'm a little confused because in looking at that initial url
> http://twitter.com/users/show/user_name.xml

> I have not come across an instance where those attributes were
> present.

> On Dec 10, 10:55 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Maybe some users are private? I don't know. You probably would have  
>> to
>> ask on the twitter api mailing list.

>> On Dec 10, 2008, at 11:02 PM, trustfundbaby wrote:

>>> But here's the thing.
>>> Its the same call ....
>>> Why does it return different data for some users than others?

>>> On Dec 10, 2:23 pm, John Nunemaker <nunema...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Certain API calls return more information than others. The user  
>>>> class
>>>> handles all the possible data but you are correct in that all  
>>>> data is
>>>> not returned with each call.

>>>> On Dec 10, 2008, at 2:47 AM, trustfundbaby <ikecof...@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:

>>>>> This one is a bit odd, so hopefully someone knows why this is.
>>>>> But if you use the  user(twitter_id) call, you get back a
>>>>> Twitter::User Object.

>>>>> Some users will have all the attributes present,
>>>>> but some others will always be missing ...
>>>>> @friends_count, @profile_text_color, @statuses_count,
>>>>> @profile_sidebar_border_color, @profile_background,
>>>>> @favourites_count,
>>>>> @profile_sidebar_fill_color, @description, @profile_image_url,
>>>>> @profile_link_color

>>>>> Is there a reason why this is?